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How Do I Promote My LinkedIn Group?

Just as everyone has a good book that they could write, everyone has a good LinkedIn group that they can create.

I am a believer that everyone has a niche that they have special expertise in, and thus you can argue that everyone should have their own LinkedIn group. For whatever reason you are on LinkedIn, if you are looking to connect with similar minded people, there is no better way to do this than to start your own LinkedIn group. Live in a region where there is no LinkedIn group? Start one. Work for a company that doesn’t have a LinkedIn group? Start one. I think you get the picture.

Once you decide on your objective for starting a LinkedIn Group, the creation process is incredibly easy…the majority of the work is in creating the logo that will represent your group. But now that you have the group and the profile shows that it only has 1 member (yourself), how do you promote it to get as many people to join as possible?

I have created two different LinkedIn groups for two different niches, so I can speak from experience. First of all, seeing that you created a _LinkedIn_ group, it makes sense to first of all promote it directly to your LinkedIn 1st degree connections. However, I urge you to only promote it to those that you think might be interested in joining the group. For instance, if you want to target a particular industry or geography, you can isolate those that fit your target through the LinkedIn People Advanced Search functionality and then only send the information to them. I think a lot of people are annoyed when they receive group invitations for groups that are totally irrelevant to them! In your introduction, be sure to include details regarding the group, and you should definitely be thinking about your group “brand” and differentiate yourself from the hundreds if not thousands of LinkedIn groups that already exist. Finally, there should be a good reason for those that read the email that you send them to join. What is the benefit for their joining?

So if you think about your 1) target audience, 2) branding/differentiation, and 3) benefits of joining, you are bound to create and email sent to the right people and have a good percentage of people who actually will join. My two oldest LinkedIn groups, Windmill Networking in Southern California “So Cal Sushi” and Windmill Networking in Japan “The Izakaya Club”, are very much niche groups but they have around 800 members apiece (note: figure has been updated as of July, 2010). Do let me know how your group promotion efforts go, and do share your expertise in the comments for the rest of us to learn about!

Neal Schaffer is a leading authority on helping businesses through their digital transformation of sales and marketing through consulting, training, and helping enterprises large and small develop and execute on social media marketing strategy, influencer marketing, and social selling initiatives. President of the social media agency PDCA Social, Neal also teaches digital media to executives at Rutgers University, the Irish Management Institute (Ireland), and the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland). Fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, Neal is a popular keynote speaker and has been invited to speak about digital media on four continents in a dozen countries. He is also the author of 3 books on social media, including Maximize Your Social (Wiley), and in late 2019 will publish his 4th book, The Business of Influence (HarperCollins), on educating the market on the why and how every business should leverage the potential of influencer marketing. Neal resides in Irvine, California but also frequently travels to Japan.

About Neal Schaffer

Neal Schaffer is a leading authority on helping businesses through their digital transformation of sales and marketing through consulting, training, and helping enterprises large and small develop and execute on social media marketing strategy, influencer marketing, and social selling initiatives. President of the social media agency PDCA Social, Neal also teaches digital media to executives at Rutgers University, the Irish Management Institute (Ireland), and the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland). Fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, Neal is a popular keynote speaker and has been invited to speak about digital media on four continents in a dozen countries. He is also the author of 3 books on social media, including Maximize Your Social (Wiley), and in late 2019 will publish his 4th book, The Business of Influence (HarperCollins), on educating the market on the why and how every business should leverage the potential of influencer marketing. Neal resides in Irvine, California but also frequently travels to Japan.

I have starting asking existing members to promote the group to others. I have even set a goal of trying to reach a certain number by a certain timeframe … then I send updates and additional thank you's via comments as the group grows in size. I even give them the steps for sharing the group with others. Here is the text that I use when I send out an announcement:

Promotion of (________) Group on LinkedIn

Hello All,

Can you help us promote the (________) LinkedIn Group to your contacts and colleagues? It's as easy as 1…2…3!

1. Go to the (________) LinkedIn Group. 2. From the Overview tab, click on “Share this Group.” 3. Select people you are connected to that may be interested in (________).

Thank you for your help in spreading the word about (________) and about our profession (or ________)!

I have starting asking existing members to promote the group to others. I have even set a goal of trying to reach a certain number by a certain timeframe … then I send updates and additional thank you's via comments as the group grows in size. I even give them the steps for sharing the group with others. Here is the text that I use when I send out an announcement:

Promotion of (________) Group on LinkedIn

Hello All,

Can you help us promote the (________) LinkedIn Group to your contacts and colleagues? It's as easy as 1…2…3!

1. Go to the (________) LinkedIn Group. 2. From the Overview tab, click on “Share this Group.” 3. Select people you are connected to that may be interested in (________).

Thank you for your help in spreading the word about (________) and about our profession (or ________)!

I don't see the relation between creating a LinkedIn Group and wasting invitations? Plus, the 5,000 number….what does this refer to? Yes, you do have the ability to delete an old LinkedIn Group but you can't migrate users to the new one and instead will have to reinvent the wheel by inviting people again…

I just made a LinkedIn Group and wasted my 5000 Invitations, I wish I read this article of yours before that, anyway thanks, I suppose I can migrate the old one to a new group and just delete the old one.

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ABOUT NEAL

Neal Schaffer is a leader in helping educate executives and professionals on social media as well as in implementing successful social media strategies for businesses. CEO of the social media agency PDCA Social, social media educator at Rutgers University and the Irish Management Institute, social media keynote speaker who has spoken at hundreds of events on four continents, and author of three social media books, Neal is a true innovator and influencer in the growing world of social media for business.